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“The book clearly describes the horror, the conflict, the chaos, the death, the trauma that came from the war, and then after that, the invisible dream that I started pursuing.” Abdi Nor Iftin, author of the debut memoir, Call Me American (Knopf, 2018), talks about growing up during the civil war in Somalia and what the American dream means to him.
“Its freedom lies in fragmentation and even welcomed chaos. The embrace of intended disorganization felt right to me,” says Tina Chang in a Q&A with Poets & Writers about using the zuihitsu form in her third poetry collection, Hybrida (Norton, 2019). The zuihitsu is a Japanese form and genre comparable to the lyric essay comprised of casual, loosely connected fragments and ideas, often in haphazard order, such as in Sei Shōnagon’s The Pillow Book. Write a zuihitsu-inspired essay, collecting a dozen or so random thoughts and personal notes about your surroundings, and incorporating text fragments, observations, and lists.
Green Brain Comics, along with the Emerging Writers Network, hosts Brain Candy, a free, curated live program of prose, music, poetry, and visual art. Brain Candy readings occur every third Monday of the month with new monthly guests.
The shop also hosts book club discussions, comic book signings and release parties, and movie screenings.
The Tuxedo Project Literary Center opened in September 2017 and hosts writing workshops, book readings, author visits and other events. Once the childhood home of Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Stephen Henderson, it has been converted to help build community by providing space for meetings and other organizing activities on the 7100 block of Tuxedo. It is open to the public.
The writers’ residence and literary center is in partnership with Marygrove College and the John L. and James S. Knight Foundation.
Artist Village Detroit is located in the Old Redford district of Detroit and was founded in 2003 by Alicia Marion George, affectionately known as the Queen of the Village, Charles “Chazz” Miller, founder of Public Art Workz and resident artist of AVD, and John George, founder of the Motor City Blight Busters. AVD is a nonprofit organization with the mission to revitalize the community through public art and educate the youth on ways they can market their art.
Writers of all stripes will find opportunities in approaching July and August deadlines. These include valuable fellowships, as well as novella, chapbook, and book contests, and all offer an award of at least $1,000.
Delaware Division of the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship: Established Professional Fellowships of $6,000 each and Emerging Artist Fellowships of $3,000 each are given annually to Delaware poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers who have lived in Delaware for at least one year prior to application and who are not enrolled in a degree-granting program. Entry fee: none. Deadline: August 1.
Emrys Press Poetry Chapbook Contest: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Emrys Press is given annually for a poetry chapbook. The winner will also receive a weeklong residency at the Rensing Center near Greenville, South Carolina. Joseph Millar will judge. Entry fee: $25. Deadline: July 30.
Howling Bird Press Book Contest: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Howling Bird Press will be given in alternating years for a book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. The 2019 prize will be awarded in nonfiction. Entry fee: $25. Deadline: July 31.
Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grants: Project grants of up to $2,500 each are given twice yearly to women and transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, or otherwise gender-nonconforming poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers in the Delaware Valley region to fund art for social change projects. Writers living in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties who are 18 years of age or older and who are not full-time students in a degree-granting arts program are eligible. Applicants must identify a person, an organization, or a business as a partner for their project. Entry fee: none. Deadline: August 1.
PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowships: Five seven-month fellowships, which include a stipend of $1,000 each, are given annually to emerging poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers who lack access to financial and creative support. Each fellow receives professional mentorship with an established writer, attends courses at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, and takes part in genre-specific master classes, three public readings, gatherings with writers and publishing professionals, and other programming throughout the fellowship period. Travel and lodging are not provided. Writers who do not have significant publication credits, are not enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate writing program, and do not hold an undergraduate or graduate writing degree are eligible. Entry fee: $10. Deadline August 1.
Press 53 Award for Poetry: A prize of $1,000, publication by Press 53, and 50 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Tom Lombardo will judge. Entry fee: $30. Deadline: July 31.
Red Hen Press Novella Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Red Hen Press is given annually for a novella. Doug Lawson will judge. Entry fee: $25. Deadline: July 31.
Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out the most recent post on the Grants & Award Blog for info about more contests with deadlines of July 31 or August 1.
July’s final deadlines include several awards with purses of $1,000 or more for individual poems, short stories, and essays. Or, if you’ve been busy this summer and have a collection ready for submission, consider three contests for short story and essay manuscripts.
F(r)iction Short Story Contest: A prize of $1,000 is given three times a year for a short story. Entry fee: $15. Deadline: July 31.
Hidden River Arts Hawk Mountain Short Story Collection Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Hidden River Press is given annually for a story collection. Entry fee: $22. Deadline: July 30.
Munster Literature Centre Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition: A prize of €2,000 (approximately $2,250) and publication in Southword is given annually for a short story. The winner also receives a weeklong residency at the Anam Cara Writer’s Retreat on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork. Entry fee: €18. Deadline: July 31.
Narrative Spring Story Contest: A prize of $2,500 and publication in Narrative is given annually for a short story, a short short story, an essay, or an excerpt from a work of fiction or creative nonfiction. A second-place prize of $1,000 is also awarded. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $27. Deadline: July 31.
New Millennium Writings New Millennium Awards: Four prizes of $1,000 each and publication in New Millennium Writings and on the journal's website are given twice yearly for a poem, a short story, a short short story, and an essay that have not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 5,000. Entry fee: $20. Deadline: July 31.
Seneca Review Books Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize: A prize of $2,000 and publication by Seneca Review Books will be given biennially for a collection of lyric essays. Jenny Boully will judge. Cross-genre, hybrid, and verse forms, as well as image and text works, are also eligible. Entry fee: $27. Deadline: August 1.
Sewanee Review Poetry and Fiction Contest: Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Sewanee Review will be given annually for a group of poems and a short story. Carl Phillips will judge in poetry and Roxane Gay will judge in fiction. Entry fee: $30. Deadline: July 31.
University of Notre Dame Sullivan Prize in Short Fiction: A prize of $1,000 and publication by the University of Notre Dame Press is given biennially for a story collection. Writers who have published at least one story collection are eligible. Entry fee: $15. Deadline: July 31.
Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more contests in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.
In Thomas Clerc’s autobiographical novel, Interior (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018), translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman, each chapter consists of the author documenting the objects in the seven rooms in his Parisian apartment, from the peephole in the entryway and the toilet brush in the bathroom, to a switch plate on his kitchen wall. Write a lyric essay inspired by this concept. Select one room, or one part of a room, and write a series of vignettes detailing the physical objects. Include mundane architectural components as well as the memories that surface when you encounter these items on a daily basis, revealing your interior thoughts.
The winners of the 2019 Literary Magazines Prizes are the Common, American Short Fiction, Margins, the Black Warrior Review, and the Offing.
“I like questions, my imagination likes them too.” In this A Word on Word series video, Alexander Chee speaks about his essay collection, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel (Mariner Books, 2018), and his writing process which involves engaging in conversation with his fictional characters.
